Charlie's Greatest Hits
by Trillian Astra
Summary: Charlie Pace: Bloody Rock God, friend... and tragic hero. Desmond has to tell Claire that Charlie drowned. Unfortunately canon, after the season three finale. PB&J with Daire friendship, Desmond narrates. Please R&R. Disclaimer: No, not mine.


**Summary:**** Just a little AU-ish piece, imagining what might have happened if Charlie really did drown in "Greatest Hits". I got the idea for this right after watching the episode "Greatest Hits", which I thought was an amazing episode.**

**Ship is PB&J, with Daire friendship. Desmond narrates. Please read and review.**

**Disclaimer****: I don't own Charlie, Desmond, Claire or Aaron, or anything else from Lost for that matter. **

**Charlie's Greatest Hits**

I woke up lying in a canoe, with water splashing over the side. I looked around, and saw that Charlie was gone. I carefully sat up, finding a folded piece of paper pushed inside my shirt. I took it out, but didn't unfold it. I knew what it was, and what it meant.

The last thing I could remember was telling Charlie that I'd swim down into this underwater hatch instead. He must have knocked me out and swum down while I was unconscious. I reached up and felt a lump on the back of my head… yea, he had. I looked at my watch, and saw that I'd been out for over an hour. If Charlie was okay, he would have returned to the surface long ago.

I knew that he wasn't coming back, and that I should get back to the island, to find out what had happened and give Claire the piece of paper Charlie had left. I picked up the paddle, and made my way back to shore.

By the time I reached the beach camp, everyone else had returned. People were hurrying around, returning the camp to some semblance of order, and no-one paid me any attention. I went straight to Claire's tent, and saw her putting Aaron down to sleep. I stood and watched her for a moment, then she looked up and saw me. She saw that I was alone. "Desmond? Where's Charlie?"

"I'm sorry, Claire… he didn't make it."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"I was gonna swim down, but… he must've knocked me out, 'cos I woke up an hour later and he was gone. He must've… run out of air, while he was down there."

"No, no he said he'd be all right, he said he'd come back…"

"Uh… he left something… he asked me to give it to you." I pulled the folded piece of paper out of my pocket, and put it into her hand.

"What's this?"

"Read it. He wanted you to have it."

She unfolded the piece of paper with shaking hands, and I saw her eyes widen as she read. "Oh my god…" She sat down, pulling her knees up to her chest, with Charlie's list crumpled in her hand. I sat down next to her.

"You said you were going to swim down instead?"

"Yea, that's right."

"But he went anyway."

"Yea."

"Why?"

"I had a flash… not long ago. In it, I saw you and Aaron getting into a helicopter. We were being rescued."

"And Charlie?"

"What I saw… when we were rescued, Charlie died after he swam down and let the distress signal get out."

"Did he know about what you saw?"

"He did."

"He… he… he sacrificed himself, so we could be rescued."

I didn't know what to say. I looked over at her, and I saw that she was crying. I looked away, looking out towards the place on the beach where the cable was, to the place where….

I felt a hand touch mine, and looked over at Claire sitting next to me. "Desmond… don't blame yourself."

"What?"

"You think it's your fault, right? Only it isn't. He knew what he was doing, he knew what would happen. It's not your fault."

"I could have stopped him. If only I hadn't turned my back, he wouldn't've knocked me out, wouldn't've gone down there, he'd be here now."

"No, Desmond, it isn't your fault."

At that exact moment, Aaron started crying, and she wiped the tears from her eyes, and got up to see to him. She picked him up, and I stood up and went over to her. As she rocked the baby back to sleep, I noticed something in his crib. When I reached down to pick it up, I saw that it was Charlie's DriveShaft ring.

"Claire?"

"What, Desmond?"

"I found this in Aaron's crib." I held the ring out to her.

"Charlie's ring…"

"He must have left it here, for Aaron."

"Oh, god…" She broke down in tears. I quickly took Aaron and put him back in his crib, then knelt next to her.

I held her as she sobbed into my shirt for hours. She was exhausted by the time the tears stopped, so I got her to lie down, while I covered her with a blanket so she could sleep.


End file.
